Unlike Hà Nội where most new houses have a very historicist decorative design,
the new houses in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) are more modernist if not just utilitarian. And while the houses in Hà Nội are most often painted ochre or vermillion, there is a much greater use of other colors in HCMC. As in Hà Nội, most houses are "tube houses" in that they are very narrow but very long. Although I haven't confirmed this yet, it is said that these lots are narrow because property taxes are based on the width of the lot at the street line. In HCMC, I guess (without confirmation yet) that many of the new houses are designed by young architects trying out new ideas, and this is very good to see. This in contrast to the usual utilitarian modernist larger buildings in HCMC. These pictures can be viewed by clicking on the first or top picture in the album and then click "next" on each photo to proceed though the album in slide show fashion.

21 June 2010

Why Facebook is important to me

Stickyrice in Hanoi just inspired me to post after a long hiatus from blog posting. I am honored to be included in his listing of "old timer" Vietnam bloggers.

He also mentions Roy Hornsby who I also enjoyed reading, but my RSS reader dropped him sometime back and I missed several of his posts on his blog Royby.com. In a posting a couple of months ago, Roy said "I’m sick and tired of the time wasting triviality of Facebook." That struck me because I have become a daily user of Facebook to keep up with my family, relatives, old friends, and new friends. I also use the postings of the NY Times and NPR as a portal to interesting stories that I otherwise might have missed.

Since I am 12,250 kilometers from the home town back in Montana USA, and given my advanced age, I am increasingly needy to maintain contact, and Facebook has become the most universally-used means of doing so. My daughters, for example, rarely send me an email, and I don't seem to use the IM services they use, do Facebook is it for us. Without it, I would feel extremely disconnected from my past life as well as relationships that are at a distance. That is not a good situation for any expat to be in. I love living here in Viet Nam, and I am not often homesick, but Facebook helps to keep this working for me.

Yes, there is a lot of trivial stuff that crops up on Facebook, especially when my relatives go through their Farmyard whatever phases, but I have been reading a diversity of sources online now for years, and I have trained myself to quickly bounce past trivial stuff.

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Why Facebook is important to me

Stickyrice in Hanoi just inspired me to post after a long hiatus from blog posting. I am honored to be included in his listing of "old timer" Vietnam bloggers.

He also mentions Roy Hornsby who I also enjoyed reading, but my RSS reader dropped him sometime back and I missed several of his posts on his blog Royby.com. In a posting a couple of months ago, Roy said "I’m sick and tired of the time wasting triviality of Facebook." That struck me because I have become a daily user of Facebook to keep up with my family, relatives, old friends, and new friends. I also use the postings of the NY Times and NPR as a portal to interesting stories that I otherwise might have missed.

Since I am 12,250 kilometers from the home town back in Montana USA, and given my advanced age, I am increasingly needy to maintain contact, and Facebook has become the most universally-used means of doing so. My daughters, for example, rarely send me an email, and I don't seem to use the IM services they use, do Facebook is it for us. Without it, I would feel extremely disconnected from my past life as well as relationships that are at a distance. That is not a good situation for any expat to be in. I love living here in Viet Nam, and I am not often homesick, but Facebook helps to keep this working for me.

Yes, there is a lot of trivial stuff that crops up on Facebook, especially when my relatives go through their Farmyard whatever phases, but I have been reading a diversity of sources online now for years, and I have trained myself to quickly bounce past trivial stuff.